Freddie Prinze Jr. Recalls Vince McMahon Laughing At Him Backstage
On this week's Wrestling with Freddie podcast from iHeart Media's My Cultra Network, former WWE creative team member Freddie Prinze Jr. was joined by current AEW wrestler, Paul Wight.
Prinze Jr. told a story about sitting in Gorilla with Vince McMahon, whilst Paul Wight, known as The Big Show in WWE, was competing in the ring. The Hollywood actor mentioned the former WWE Champion was facing three local talent when Freddie thought he had legitimately hurt one of his opponents.
"Dude, we get backstage, and I'm sitting next to Vince," Freddie Prinze Jr. explains. "The three locals come. I'm sorry, but I do not remember your three gentleman's names. This was a long time ago, and I remember you [The Big Show] coming backstage and you're kind of breaking it down to these gentlemen. You were so good, you were like 'don't worry, I'm going to protect you, I'll look out for you' this and that, you were really putting them at ease.
"The segment starts, and dude, you were, first of all, you were word for word [with his promo] like it was creepy. You were like, you said Frank The Tank when he just kills Carville in that debate. I'm just there watching it and Vince is looking and nodding. Freebird is excited and shaking. Right, and I hear Kevin putting it over in the truck and I'm sitting there like 'alright alright' and the first guy comes out and you submit him, some kind of sleeper hold, in some kind of clutch and then he goes out. I'm like 'yeah, that's great, that's great.'
"The next one was like a table match and the local comes out and you pick this man, and you smashed him through the table. I remember saying on the mic 'oh, s***!' and it looked like he died. It looked like, and I was new to the business, OK so, I was like 'oh my god!' in my head he said he was going to protect this man, and the man, he's dead.
"And they're dragging the guy backstage, and I get up when he comes back into Gorilla, and I ran up to him, I'm like 'oh my god, man, are you alright, are you ok?' and he's like 'yeah, I'm good, I'm fine, man.' I was like 'you're good?' and he was like 'yeah, I'm fine' and I turn around and Vince is just laughing, right, like I'm just a complete rookie and moron!"
After the match when The Big Show returned to Gorilla, Prinze Jr. revealed that he did a great job and Vince McMahon gave his approval for the segment.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Wrestling with Freddie with an h/t to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.